The Revolt of the Pretorians (1964)

Original title:  La Rivolta dei Pretoriani

Director:  Alfonso Brescia

Writer:  Gian Paolo Callegari

Composer:  Carlo Franci

Starring:  Richard Harrison, Moira Orfei, Piero Lulli, Giuliano Gemma, Paola Pitti, Ivy Holzer, Fedele Gentile, Amedeo Trilli, Mirko Ellis, Renato Montalbano, Salvatore Furnari, Massimo Carocci, Aldo Cecconi

More info:  IMDb

Plot:  Rome chafes under the rule of the Emperor Domitian and his Egyptian mistress, Artamne. A mysterious champion arises to fight against the Emperor -- a masked man known as the Red Wolf. In fact, the Red Wolf is Valerius Rufus, one of the Emperor's trusted centurions who's aided by none other than the Emperor's court jester, the diminutive Elpidion. Rebels in league with Valerius kidnap Artamne, planning to exchange her for two of their imprisoned colleagues, but Artamne escapes and soon both Valerius, (now exposed as the Red Wolf), and his fiancee, Lucilla, are sentenced to be immersed in a cauldron of molten lead. Valerius's friends, however, rise up to rescue him and to liberate Rome.

My rating:   6/10

Will I watch it again?  Nah.

 

This is one of better lower-tiere Sword & Sandal pictures the Italians churned out in the 1960s so I'd say that's not a bad recommendation.  It's not bad and it's not great but it has a comfortable seat at the S&S table.  They were able to take the simple story and not pad it with a bunch of boring nonsense.  There's a good deal of action and it's pretty liberally sprinkled throughout.  The group fighting suffers from the typical lazy choreography of the time, but you see that in even the biggest of budgeted pictures.  If you change your focus off the main fighting and look at the background fighters, you'll see what I mean.  But then when you get to where it's just Richard Harrison fighting, that's almost an entirely different sport.  This guy is very physical and he the the actor/stuntman against him really put on a show.  It also helps that the camera gets a lot of shots of the entire mano-a-mano fight in the frame.  It's not without quick closeup cutaways that look fake as hell but it's a treat just to see chunks of a fight in glorious widescreen and mostly without one note of music (nice!).  

 

 

 

This picture must've had a better budget than most because the sets look better and more lavish.  The acting is better, too, although it's hard to tell sometimes when it's dubbed in English and most of the cast are Italian.  If you're into this genre then it's worth a look.  If not, then go for the big budget Hollywood S&S flicks like SPARTACUS (1960) and BEN-HUR (1959). 

Goliath and the Barbarians (1959)

Original title:  Il Terrore dei Barbari

Director:  Carlo Campogalliani

Writers:  Gino Mangini, Emimmo Salvi, Nino Stresa, Giuseppe Taffarel

Composers:  Carlo Innocenzi (original Italian version), Les Baxter (US version)

Starring:  Steve Reeves, Chelo Alonso, Bruce Cabot, Giulia Rubini, Arturo Dominici, Gino Scotti, Livio Lorenzon, Luciano Marin, Andrea Checchi

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  I Will Kill 10,000 Barbarians...And They Will Call Me GOLIATH!

Plot:  When barbarians invade his village and kill his father, a local man wages a one-man war against them.

My rating:  6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

It's a pretty good bet that if Steve Reeves is in a period piece as a hunky Hercules type, then there's a good chance it's at least mildly entertaining.  I'd say this one's better than average but not good enough to stand out in any way among the other films of the time and genre.  If you like your Steve Reeves shirtless then this movie will more than satisfy that requirement.  He's good in this, although it's a shame his voice was dubbed by someone else.  There's enough action sprinkled throughout to check that box off.  The pacing is pretty good and it's a good looking picture.  The store more than satisfies an adventure film like this.  When American-international Pictures bought the rights for the US, they had it re-scored by Les Baxter.  That's the version I saw.  I'd like to see the original Italian version with Carlo Innocenzi's score.  Baxter's is good, with a memorable main theme.  Soundtracks were released of both.  Maybe I'll find them on YouTube.

Revolt of the Slaves (1960)

Original title:  La Rivolta degli Schiavi

Director:  Nunzio Malasomma

Writers:  Nicholas Patrick Wiseman, Duccio Tessari, Stefano Strucchi, Daniel Mainwaring

Composer:  Angelo Francesco Lavagnino

Starring:  Rhonda Fleming, Lang Jeffries, Dario Moreno, Ettore Manni, Wandisa Guida, Gino Cervi, Fernando Rey, Serge Gainsbourg, Jose Nieto

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  WANTON . . . TEMPTRESS . . . She put the torch to an empire of sin!

Plot:  During the later years of the Roman Empire, the daughter of a wealthy patrician falls in love with a Christian slave.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  Nope.

Roman 1:  The slaves are revolting!
Roman 2:  You're telling me, they stink on ice!

If only this picture were rich with dialogue like that but, alas.  I was hoping this would be more of a Sword & Sandal action flick.  It has some action (with some clumsily choreographed fight scenes) but there's also a lot of Christian drama (yawn).  A nasty side effect of the latter is the overuse of cheesy church organ music.  It's so bad.  One thing you don't see in these pictures are roles for black actors.  This one has a sizeable role for Vanoye Aikens (as Iface) and Dolores Francine (as Liubaia).  That was refreshing.  Iface is one of the bad guys but still.  The overly religious story doesn't do it for me at all.  Besides the religious part of it, movies like these about the persecution of Christians in the waning days of the Roman Empire almost always follow the same overused and boring-ass tropes and this one is no different. 

How many people on this production approved of Vibio's (Jeffries) costume (on the right)?  It's awful.

For my money, the best part of the movie was the last 15 or more minutes when the Christians are in the Colosseum when the prisoners are picked off one by one and then something shocking happens to the last one.  But, naturally, this is going to end on an uplifting note to give hope and inspiration to all.  Yawn.  When looking for movie posters to add to this entry, I came across a review of the Kino Blu-ray and the widescreen print looks gorgeous.  I watched a lousy fullscreen VHS copy.  I bet I might've liked it more if I had that Blu-ray but then it would've been a waste of money ultimately since I would only watch it once and get rid of it.  Sigh.

Troy (2004)

Director: Wolfgang Petersen

Writers: Homer, David Benioff

Composer:  James Horner

Starring: Julian Glover, Brian Cox, Brad Pitt, Brendan Gleeson, Diane Kruger, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean, Julie Christie, Peter O'Toole

More info: IMDb

Tagline: For Honor.  For Victory.  For Love.  For Destiny.  For Passion.  For Troy.

Plot: An adaptation of Homer's great epic, the film follows the assault on Troy by the united Greek forces and chronicles the fates of the men involved.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Probably not.

When I caught this in the theater in 2004 I wasn't impressed.  I found Bloom to be an annoying prick, Pitt to be dolled up too much like a pretty boy and the female leads were underwritten and performed rather poorly.  Outside of that I liked it OK.  Cut to ten years later and I watched it again only this time it was the director's cut.  Now either for reasons of seeing it again or seeing this different cut, I liked it.  It was more violent than I remember and the major problems I perceived the first time around weren't as bad the second time.  I'm probably not going to watch it again to figure out exactly what it was.  It's a good film with some good action and performances but I think twice is my limit.  There are far too many movies I haven't seen to let this one slip in once more.

The Last Days of Pompeii (1935)

Directors: Ernest B. Schoedsack, Merian C. Cooper

Writers: James Ashmore Creelman, Melville Baker, Ruth Rose

Composer: Roy Webb

Starring: Preston Foster, Alan Hale, Basil Rathbone, John Wood, Louis Calhern, David Holt, Dorothy Wilson, Wyrley Birch, Gloria Shea

More info: IMDb

Plot: In the doomed Roman city, a gentle blacksmith becomes a corrupt gladiator, while his son leans toward Christianity.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

From the team that brought you the amazing KING KONG (1933) left most of their adventurous side behind when they made this picture.  It's melodramatic like you'd expect from '35 but there is some action from time to time to break that up.  I was hoping for more from  Schoedsack & Cooper.  It's an OK picture but you don't get any volcano action until the last few minutes and even then it's a let down.  Halfway through the flick friggin' Jesus shows up so now it's a religious picture.  Yawn.  Talk about a turn off.  Foster does a pretty good job and he would've been even better, I think, if he'd had more action scenes.  He fit nicely in the role of a gladiator.  It's weird seeing Rathbone looking like he does and even he has moments of back of the hand to the forehead overacting but some of that is the fault of the script and the reverence to religion this picture has.  I can't see any reason to seek this one out.  It's not bad but it's not all that good, either. 

The Last Glory of Troy (1962)

Original title: La Leggenda di Enea

AKA: The Avenger

Director: Giorgio Venturini

Writers: Publius Vergilius Maro, Albert Band, Ugo Liberatore, Luigi Mangini, Arrigo Montanari, Nino Stresa

Composer: Giovanni Fusco

Starring: Steeve Reeves, Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Carla Marlier, Mario Ferrari, Enzo Fiermonte, Gianni Garko, Liana Orfei

More info: IMDb

Tagline: His mighty sword avenged a nation!

Plot:  Aeneas leads escapees from the Trojan war to new land in Italy, and must deal with new threats to his people.

My rating:  6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Ehhhh...it's OK.  It helps to have a bearded Steve Reeves but his physique isn't on display like in his HERCULES pictures.  I mean, I'm not sayin' he's got to be shirtless and all oiled and muscled up or anything but besides his mug and name on the poster, it's a big plus to have that beefcake.  You get a lot of drama before the big battle action in the last act.  One thing that's cool about the battle is the lack of music.  I was diggin'  it.  When it comes to hundreds of people engaged in hand to hand combat, it's hard not to pick it apart.  If you focus on any two soldiers fighting each other then you'll start laughing at how clumsy and phony the fight choreography is.  You rarely get two people who look like they're really trying to kill each other.  There was one spot where a soldier, fighting with a sword, was able to push his opponent back with each stroke of the sword but he was hoping forward instead of walking forward.  It was hilarious.  I'm probably being a little generous with my score but I really dug the moments where the music held of completely until it was a good time to come in.  More directors/composers would do better by learning that (directors more than composers).  As a musician I value the lack of sound and the importance it can play just as much as the music can if used properly.  It's done well again after the battle when it's just two men (Reeves and some other fella) one on one and the winner takes all.  It's good stuff and it helped build tension. The final fifteen minutes is the best part of the flick.

Hercules vs. the Moloch (1963)

Original title: Ercole Contro Moloch

Director: Girogio Ferroni

Writers: Remigio Del Grosso, Arrigo Equini, Giorgio Ferroni

Composer: Carlo Rustichelli

Starring: Gordon Scott, Alessandra Panaro, Rosalba Neri, Arturo Dominici, Michel Lemoine, Jany Clair, Nerio Bernardi, Nello Pazzafini

More info: IMDb

Plot: A deposed prince arrives in a city ruled over by a cult that worships an evil monster as a god. He becomes a gladiator and his feats in the arena earn him a place on the queen's royal guard, but secretly he plots to lead a revolution and destroy the creature that has enslaved the people.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I guess you could say this is a run of the mill Sword & Sandal picture except that it stars the great Gordon Scott as Hercules/Glauco.  He's not THE Hercules but he doesn't claim to be either.  That's just his moniker to certain people.  He's about the only reason to watch this.  He's a talented, physical actor so his fight scenes, particularly the ones where he's in the gladiatorial ring, are outstanding.  The rest of the movie is OK.  Everything is adequate if not a little above average but not so much that anything great stands out besides Scott.  The copy I had was a crappy fullscreen VHS print.  I'm sure if I'd watched a great looking widescreen print and put it up on my big screen that would've made a difference.  Gordon Scott fans won't want to miss this one.  With that beard and hair he makes for a great Steve Reeves when you can't get Steve Reeves, not that Scott isn't great on his own, see.

The Trojan Horse (1961)

Original title: La Guerra di Troia

Director: Giorgio Ferroni

Writers: Giorgio Ferroni, Ugo Liberatore, Giorgio Stegani, Federico Zardi

Composers: Mario Ammonini, Giovanni Fusco

Starring: Steve Reeves, Juliette Mayniel, John Drew Barrymore, Edy Vessel, Lidia Alfonsi, Warner Bentivegna, Luciana Angiolillo, Arturo Dominici

More info: IMDb 

Tagline: The World's Mightiest Man In The Mightiest Spectacle Ever Filmed.

Plot: A retelling of the events leading to the use of the Trojan Horse, to bring down the great city of Troy.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Probably not.

This Italian Sword & Sandal picture is pretty good.  It's got good production value plus it never hurts to have Steve Reeves as the ass-kicking lead badass.  There's A LOT of action in this flick.  It takes a while for the Trojan horse to make its way into the story (and even longer before you know what happens) but there's plenty to like up until then.  The battle scenes are smart enough to break up the massive amounts of soldiers slinging swords to include lots of close ups on some of them doing other things other than hand-to-hand combat.  I'm so used to seeing Reeves as a shirtless Hercules or whomever that it's weird seeing him spend most of the film with clothes on but he's still got that manly as shit beard plus, you know, the kicking everybody's ass stuff.  It's a good flick and I can see watching this again someday but not before revisiting some of the better films of the genre that's littered with mediocrity. 

The 300 Spartans (1962)

Director: Rudolph Mate

Writers: George St. George, Ugo Liberatore, Remigio Del Grosso, Giovanni d'Eramo, Gian Paolo Callegari

Composer: Manos Hatzidakis

Starring: Richard Egan, Ralph Richardson, Diane Baker, Barry Coe, David Farrar, Donald Houston, Anna Synodinou, Kieron Moore, John Crawford, Robert Brown, Laurence Naismith

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Thermopylae... mighty battle epic of a handful of men forming the invincible "flying wedge" - against a killer horde five million strong!

Plot: A small army of Greeks spearheaded by 300 Spartans do battle with the whole invading Persian army.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

I love a good ancient history epic with great outdoor locations, lavish indoor sets, brilliant colored costumes, action, adventure, intrigue and so on.  This one covers those bases.  Most of the action is reserved for the final half hour but it's a good watch until then.  The acting is swell and all but I really dig the outdoor scenery.  It helps so much in selling the action and drama.  Sometimes I'm just that easy to please.  Watching this reminds me that I haven't seen 300 (2006) since it came out and the Blu-ray has been on my shelf for years.